I was thrilled to get close-up shots of a cute little Scotorythra moth in Haleakalā Crater on the island of Maui. While backpacking through Haleakalā Crater, we were lucky when entomologist Steve Montgomery found a Scotorythra moth outside the Palikū Cabin where we...

I was thrilled to stumble on Hawaiian yellow-faced bees — nalo meli maoli — on lehua flowers on Hawaiʻi Island. The native bees are small — less than a quarter inch long — and look more like black-brown wasps that have a yellow face. Honey...

One of the amazing denizens in the Hawaiian forest is the carnivorous caterpillar Eupithecia. Eupithecia is a large genus of moths with over a thousand described species worldwide whose caterpillars feed on plant material. But when the moths found their way to...

One of the rare flowers found only on Oʻahu is Cyanea crispa or Haha. Known as the Crimpled Rollandia, the plant grows up to 5 feet high with large broad leaves that form a crown at the top of the plant several feet in diameter. The plant was discovered by famous...

One of the oddest native Hawaiian insects is the ʻakoko planthopper which has a distinctive nose almost as long as the bug itself. The tiny winged creature — Dictyophorodelphax swezeyi — is about 5 mm long — slightly larger than an ant. The insect...

Among the rarest plants in the Hawaiian Islands is Cyanea truncata — Haha — which can be found in the Koʻolau Mountains of Oʻahu. Cyanea truncata grows 3-4 feet high and is found in dense native forests. The plant produces large broad leaves up to 18...